►December 29, 2003 - Healthy Defence - Contrary to what the US Institute of Medicine suggests, economic realities such as low profits and costly R&D are not barriers to vaccine innovation for pharmaceutical companies. In fact, Merck chief Raymond Gilmartin argues that the development of vaccines is a profitable venture. ANNA TEO reports - The Business Times

►December 31, 2003 - Vaccinations Credited With Hepatitis B Decline - www.thebostonchannel.com

►December 29, 2003 - Lab testing human West Nile vaccine - AP via Southeast Missourian

►December 31, 2003 - FDA Issues Final Rule And Final Order Regarding Safety And Efficacy Of Certain Licensed Biological Products Including Anthrax Vaccine - FDA via ScienceDaily - "To complete the review of the safety and effectiveness of certain bacterial vaccines and toxoids licensed before July, 1972, FDA today issued a final rule and order that makes final determinations concerning the safety and effectiveness of such products and amends certain biologics regulations. The final order states FDA's conclusion that the licensed anthrax vaccine, Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed, is safe and effective for the prevention of anthrax disease - regardless of the route of exposure."

Comment:  How conVENient.

►Dear Senator Frist....Allow All Vaccine-Injured Children Into the NVICP and Civil Court and Give Them a Good Shot For Once (pdf) - National Autism Association (NAA) Ad #1

Dear Senator Frist...Vote Against the Frist/Gregg Vaccine Legislation and Give Them a Good Shot For Once (pdf) - National Autism Association (NAA) Ad #2

Comment: For more on Senator Frist's inappropriate use of the word "frivolous", go to Scandals: Senator Frist Frivolously Dismisses Vaccine Damage

►January 1, 2004 - Needles and damage done - To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: Missoula’s question  - Missoula Independent - "So are these parents sensible—or just selfish? It can be unclear whether newborns need this alphabet soup of shots or whether the drug companies are just trying to move merchandise. Regardless of which side of the immunization fence one resides on, all sides agree that the decision is motivated by parents’ concern for their very young children."

►December 31, 2003 - Concern about thimerosal in child vaccines - Knight Ridder via www.fortwayne.com

►December 31, 2003 - Pentagon's past errors heighten vaccine fears - PalmBeachPost.com - "The Pentagon's shameful record of stonewalling active military members and veterans about toxic exposures inspires no confidence in the claim that the vaccinations are safe. Soldiers have been guinea pigs many times before."

►December 31, 2003 - F.D.A. Rules Shots Effective for Anthrax That Is Inhaled (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "In its statement on Tuesday, the F.D.A. said the new 'final rule and order' made clear that it 'does not regard the approved anthrax vaccine as investigational for protection against inhalation anthrax.' The new determination, the statement said, was 'relevant and should be considered in any further litigation in this matter.'...But Mark S. Zaid, a lawyer who is challenging the Pentagon's mandatory anthrax vaccine program, said the timing of the announcement was driven by politics, not science...'This alleged final rule is nothing more than after-the-fact gamesmanship to overrule the court's findings,' he said in a telephone interview. 'It appears reflective more of policy duress than independent analysis.'

►December 31, 2003 - Religious heads join polio drive - Times of India - "Minister for family welfare Ahmad Hasan on Tuesday made a special appeal to members of the minority community to ensure that no child remained deprived of polio drops and called for full cooperation from all sections of people to completely eradicate the disease."

►December 30, 2003 - FDA: Anthrax vaccine 'safe and effective' - CNN - "Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit issued a statement saying that the FDA's ruling is nothing more than 'after-the-fact gamesmanship to overrule the Court's findings.'...Attorney Mark Zaid cited research from an FDA panel in 1985 -- which was also mentioned in the FDA statement Tuesday -- that said that 'no meaningful assessment of [the vaccine's] value against inhalation anthrax is possible,' Zaid said."

►December 21, 2003 - Serious mind games - Parents of autistic children face years of intensive exercises and structured play with their kids in an effort to unlock abilities that seem trapped inside. New research suggests that diagnosis and treatment has to come early in life to be fully effective. - The Times-Picayune via www.nola.com

►December 30, 2003 - Can strep throat cause behavior disorder? - Some say more research needed, but others say problem is rare but real. - Austin American-Statesman

►December 30, 2003 - 'Unlimited Potential' program offers hope - New therapy surfaces in the treatment of autism, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and brain injuries. - Northwest Indian Times

►December 31, 2003 - New mercury findings spur group to act - KRT via Chicago Tribune via www.fortwayne.com - "The fish stories continue at the Food and Drug Administration. So does the confusion about whether pregnant women and kids should be eating canned tuna."

►December 31, 2003 - Reader Responses - The Politics of Autism (requires registration) - The Wall Street Journal

►December 29, 2003 - N.H. hospitals warned to 'hyper-vigilant' to meningitis after 5 teens found with symptoms - AP via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

►December 29, 2003 - Docs Hunt Teen Meningitis Link - "If all of the strains of the bacteria match, and certainly if there are more cases, that would be more concerning." Jesse Greenblatt, state epidemiologist - AP via CBS News

►January 1, 2004 - 2003, a blot on polio eradication drive - Deccan Herald - "Karnataka, which saw the outbreak of dreaded poliomyelitis virus last May, has earned the dubious distinction of recording the highest incidents of polio - 34 - in the country for the year 2003. In fact, it is the second highest in the world!...In its year-end report on polio in India, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the incidence of polio in the State as a 'major outbreak'. Starting May, there has been a spurt in the number of polio cases in North Karnataka despite efforts to control it."

►December 30, 2003 - State faces shortage of anti-diphtheria serum - Ahmedabad Newsline via cities.expressindia.com

►December 29, 2003 - http://usinfo.state.U.S. Officials Report Progress on Mad Cow Investigation - Risk to consumers "virtually zero" despite recall, USDA says - http://usinfo.state.gov

►December 29, 2003 - Swaziland: Aids Toll Leads to Flood of Bogus "Miracle" Cures - IRIN via www.allafrica.com

►December 29, 2003 - Mad Cow: Prion research misguided? - UPI via The Washington Times - "The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., openly acknowledges prions have not been established fully as a cause of any disease. Yet nearly all of the $27 million the agency doled out last year for studies on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs -- a group of diseases that includes mad cow, chronic wasting in deer and elk, scrapie in sheep and vCJD in humans -- went toward studies focusing on the prion hypothesis."

►December 29, 2003 - Indian scientists discover 3 new genes of SARS virus - Business Standard

►December 31, 2003 - BioRad poised for mad cow role - Contra Costa Times - "Should regulators decide to more carefully monitor U.S. cattle for mad cow disease, Hercules-based Bio-Rad Laboratories says it is ready to ramp up manufacture of a test that identifies cattle with the dreaded ailment."

►December 29, 2003 - Rare brain illness holds wider clues - Mystery: Scientists say a disease that afflicts natives of Guam could hold the key to treating similar ailments such as Alzheimer's disease. - www.sunspot.net

►December 31, 2003 - Not a Lean Year for Health News - The nation's obesity epidemic raged on, while SARS scared the world in 2003: both lead the list of the top health stories of the year. - HealthDayNews via www.healthcentral.com

►December 15, 2003 - Business, Bush Look for Lawsuit Limits in 2004 - Reuters

►December 31, 2003 - Daft science cashing in on the bleeding obvious - People who are sick die sooner and drunk gamblers lose more, according to recent research - www.timesonline.co.uk - "PERHAPS it is time for research into why university personnel continually attract funding for studies with blindingly obvious conclusions...There must be an art to it. How else to explain the work of Amos Zeichner, director of the psychology clinic at the University of Georgia, who proved that 'alcohol facilitates aggression among those who express anger outwardly'. "

►December 30, 2003 - Chinese Herbalists Laud U.S. Exemption for Ephedra - Reuters -  "When U.S. regulators said they would ban the use of ephedra in weight-loss supplements on Tuesday they allowed an exemption for practitioners of Chinese medicine who have been using the herb for thousands of years to treat ailments ranging from asthma to fevers...Synthetic ephedra-based weight loss pills sold over the counter can be harmful when taken in large doses and by people who have heart ailments, high blood pressure and other health problems, the FDA said...But when taken properly under a health practitioners supervision, the herb -- also known as ma huang -- is good medicine, according to several trained Chinese herbalists."

*Note:  Starting December 10, 2003 news will be posted in the "daily news" pages based on when it was posted on this website, not by publication date.